My OmniFocus Home Screen

With one of the recent releases of OmniFocus for iOS, we were given the ability to rearrange perspectives on the OmniFocus home screen. Of course, I geeked out on this and created a custom view. Here’s what it looks like.

Inbox

I keep my Inbox available as I often want to empty it. If I’m getting ready to focus on a project for a couple hours or just got off a call, I need to process things immediately so my pinball brain can go in a straight line for a while. Easy access to my inbox makes clarification easier.

Contexts

Here’s the obvious one. I need it to be easy to choose a context to work on. Most of the time, I’m using my phone to work through my morning routine. At other times when I find myself on a plane or waiting for someone, I can use this as a way to find tasks to do.

Projects

I don’t go in here often, but it’s enough that I wanted it on the home screen. Weird, I know. There are instances when I want to look at a specific project and I’m away from my computer. It also just feels intuitive to have it there.

Dashboard

Here’s where I spend most of my time. This is a custom perspective that shows all of my Due or Flagged tasks. I decide on these the night before by going through my contexts and flagging the items that need to get done the next day. You can see a play-by-play of how this works here.

Nearby

I use this more than I thought I would. If I’m in a store of some kind, I’ll check this and look across all of my geotagged lists. It helps me figure out if there’s another errand I need to run while I’m out, like “buy ice cream.” Though I’m not sure why I don’t put buy ice cream on all of these lists. You can never be too careful with your ice cream supply.

Neutralize

This is another custom perspective that was inspired by Kourosh Dini at Using OmniFocus. There are some tasks that need to be done repeatedly in order to keep your world stable. It can be little things like refill printer paper, clean the desk, water the plants, etc… I have these in a Single Actions list and use a custom perspective to make them easy to find. I try to clear this list every day.

Forecast

I don’t use this often because I don’t usually use due dates. But if I’m in a conversation with someone and they ask what I have going on in the next few days, this is one place I go to determine the answer. “What is Joe working on?” I don’t know, but I can find out.

iPhone

This is another custom perspective that I use frequently. It’s a combination of @Any Device and @Communicate. Those are the contexts I can work on from my iPhone. If I get through Dashboard and Neutralize, this is where I go when I’m on my phone.

PS. I keep this same setup on my iPad as well. I don’t want two different setups. But instead of iPhone I have one for iPad.

Review

I only use this on my phone when I’m traveling. If I see a number in the box, I’ll go into Review and look things over to keep me up to date.

Becky

This is a custom perspective that is based on a search for “Becky.” It’s really handy to go here right before I get off work to see if there’s anything I need to talk about or work on with my wife.

Related Articles

More often than not, I find myself surprised by the questions I get after releasing a new script or product. After releasing Working With OmniFocus I received more emails about how the site is set up then I did about the course itself. It’s apparent to me that this is something different that others are interested in. So here’s how I did it.

One piece missing in my Drafts actions arsenal was the ability to create a single draft with multiple tasks and send them all to OmniFocus via the new URL schemes. This isn’t something I use often but there are times when it would be useful and can be the difference between capturing everything and missing a vital thought.

I’ve been impressed by the speed of the Omni Group’s release cycles lately. It’s obvious they are hard at work on the automation methods for both iOS and macOS. One of these recent releases introduced the ability to create new projects within a specific folder on iOS.

Right Now?

You can always see what I'm currently working on by visiting my dedicated Now site. Where I spend my time, what I'm reading, and what I'm actively coding can all be found here.